Automatic musical instrument.



B. G. ANDERSON.

AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

APPLICATION FILED APRJB, 1913.

1,096, 144, Patented May 12, 1914;

W Qwmwtcvc @51 fattoznev UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE,

ERNST G. ANDERSON, OF WESTFIELD, NEIIV JERSEY, ASSIGNOR, BY DIRECT AND MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO NATIONAL PNEUMATIC ACTION 00., INCL, OF NEW YORK,

N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ERNST G. ANDERSON, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of lVestfield, in the county of Union and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Musical Instruments, of which the following is a specification.

The invention pertains more particularly to what are commonly known as tracking de'ices or means for securing the proper alinement of the perforations in a musicsheet with the openings in the tracker-bar, and said invention consists in the novel features, arrangements and combinations of parts hereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

The difiiculties incident to keeping a traveling perforated sheet with its perforations in proper alinement with the openings in a trackerbar are well understood, and the object of my invention is to provide simplilied and highly efficient means for maintaining such alinement, the features of my invention automatically acting to restore the alinement of the perforations in the traveling sheet with the openings in the trackerbar at any time there should be a variance in such alinement.

In carrying out my invention I preferably employ a rigidly held tracker-bar located between a music-spool which is free to have limited endwise movement and a wind-up spool which is not capable of endwise movement, and with said features I combine a bellows which is under constant light suction and has an arm on its movable member in engagement with one end of a spindle of the'music spool, a spring tending to maintain said spindle against said arm, a movable disk or valve member to be engaged by the edge of the traveling sheet and moved thereby in one direction on any departure in said direction of said sheet from its true line of travel, a spring acting to move said disk or valve member against the edge of said sheet and to cause said member to follow said edge on any departure of said sheet in the other direction from its true line of travel, and an air-conduit at one end opening into said bellows and at its other end be ing under the control of said disk or valve member in its actuation by the edge of the traveling sheet and said spring I provide Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 18, 1913.

Patented May 12, 1914. Serial No. 761,907.

for a normal slight seepage of atmospheric air into the end of said air-conduit at said valve member so as to create a sensitive balancing of the forces tending to keep the sheet in proper alinement. When on any variation of pressure of the edge of the sheet against the valve disk or member, the latter is permitted to recede from its normal position 'ith relation to the open end of the airconduit, atmospheric air will at once enter and flow through said conduit to the bellows and destroy to a sufficient extent the light or partial vacuum therein, with the result that the bellows will open more fully and the hinged member thereof will carry its arm outwardly from the spindle of and allow the shifting of the music-spool (under the force of its own spring) in a direction to correct the travel of the sheet, which while regaining its proper alinement will restore the valve-disk or member to its normal position and thereby out off the air from the air-conduit and allow the bellows to regain its normal condition and carry its aforesaid arm in a direction toward the music-spool to force said spool to its 11 rmal position. Should the sheet move the valve member to close or substantially close the air-conduit, then a stronger vacuum will be created in the bellows and the latter then collapsing will cause its arm to press against the spindle of the music-spool and shift said spool in a direction to correct the travel of the sheet.

A very desirable feature of my invention resides in the fact that the valve-member and adjacent end of the air-conduit are adjustable with relation to the width of the sheet and also to permit of the convenient modification of the line of travel of the perforations in the sheet with relation to the openings in the tracker-bar thereby permitting of the music being transposed to a higher or lower key.

The invention will be fully understood from the detailed description hereinafter presented, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the music box of a piano player equipped with the features constituting my invention, the music sheet being shown as partly broken away and partly in section on the take-up spool and the bellows being shown in section, non-essential features being omitted; Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical transverse section through a portion of the same on the dotted line 2-2 of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a. front elevation, partly broken away and partly in section, of the lower right hand corner portion of Fig. 1, the section being on the dotted line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

In the drawings, 10 designates a customary form and construction of music box adapted to support a tracker-bar 11, a musicspool 12, and a take-up spool 13 to receive a music sheet 1% as unwound from the spool 12 and to permit the rewinding of said sheet on said spool 12 when the latter is to be removed from the frame 10. The means for rotating the spools 12, 13 are well-known in the art and have not, therefore, been illustrated, my invention not pertaining to the shifting gears or other like parts of a piano player. The spool 12 has a socket at one end to receive a spring-pressed spindle 15 of known form and construction, and at its other end said spool has a socket to receive the customary inner key-end of the spindle 16, which, in this instance, I carry through a bearing in the vertical side of the box or frame 10 in close relation to a bar 17 fastened to the upper side or hinged member of the bellows 18 and extending vertically downward in the path of said spindle 16, so as to engage the same and be engaged thereby. The spool 12 initially carries the music roll and is detachable from the spindles 15, 16. When the spool 12 is to be detached from the frame 10 it is pressed toward the spindle 15 so as to compress the spring 19 and free the right hand end of the spool from the spindle 16, as usual. The spool 13 is not intended to be removed from the box 10, and it receives its rotation through a shaft 20 from the customary gearing not shown. shifting movement while in use, but the spool 13 is intended to be rigid or not capable of shifting movement in line with its length.

The tracker-bar 11 is of customary character, and in this instance it is held in rigid relation with the frame 10.

The music-sheet 14 unwinds from the spool 12 and upon the spool 13 and travels across the tracker-bar 11, as usual, and thereafter in accordance with well-known procedure the music sheet is rewound upon the spool 12, and the latter is taken from the machine and replaced by a spool carrying a different music-roll.

The spindle 16 is movable longitudinally in its bearing, and at its outer end said spindle is engaged by the bar 17 while at its inner end it is in firm engagement with the right hand end of the spool 12. The bellows 18 is utilized to control the position of the bar 17 in its relation tothe spindle 16, and said bellows has its chamber connected The spool 12 may have a limited by a pin-hole vent with a pipe or tube 21 which is subject to constant suction. The bellows is normally partly expanded or open with substantially neutral air only therein, the bellows being held partly open by the pressure of the spring 19 exerted through the spool 12 and spindle 16 against the bar 17.

The spool 13 has a reduced right-hand end portion 23 extending through plates at, 25, the plate 25 being of the outline illustrated in Fig. 2 and supported by an upper rod or pin 26 extending freely through the side of the box 10 and by a screw 27 which receives a nut 28 rigidly formed on the lower end of said plate. The plate 25, except that it may be adjusted toward or from the end of the spool 13, is a rigid plate and has no automatic movement during the operation of the mechanism. The screw 27 is mounted in bearings 29 secured to the box 10 and provided with a thumbwheel 30 by which it may be turned for adjusting the plate 25 in directions toward Or from the spool 13. I preferably provide on the nut 28, a pointer 31 and the box 10 with a scale 32, to guide the operator in adjusting the plate 25 by means of the screw 27, it being desirable that said adjustment should be accurate and assure the alinement of the perforations in the sheet 14 with the openings in the tracker-bar.

The plate 24 may be in the form of an open disk encompassing the reduced end 23 of the spool 13 and carrying centering and guiding pins 33, which pass through openings in and are supported by the plate 25. The plates 24, 25 are in near relation to each other, and are only slightly held apart or from face to face contact by means of light springs 3a which operate to gently press the plate 2st in a direction from the plate 25. The plate 24: is slidable with relation to the plate 25 by reason of the fact that the pins 33 are free in the openings in the plate 25. The disk or plate 24: operates as a valve member and its outer face is always in near relation to the open end of a bushing 35 secured in the plate 25 and receiving one end of a rubber conduit or tube 36 whose other end opens into the chamber of the bellows 18. It will be readily seen that if the plate is entirely away from the adjacent end of the open bushing 35 or even unduly away therefrom, atmospheric air may pass through said bushing and the rubber conduit 36 to the bellows 18 and thereby destroy the partial vacuum in the bellows, leaving the latter to open under the force of the spring 19 acting through the spool 12 and spindle 16 against the bellows arm 17, which means that under such condition the spool 12 would be moved slightly toward the rightand the music sheet 14 shifted accordingly. The movement of the spool 12 toward the right has the effect of carrying the edge of the perforated sheet 1% against the disk 24 and moving said disk to substantially close the port in the bushing 35 which admit-ted the free supply of air to the conduit tube 36, thus cutting off the air from the bellows and permitting a restoration of a. partial vacuum therein and the movement of the arm 17 against the spindle 16 to restore the spool 12 to its normal position. There is normally always a slight seepage of air into the port of the bushing 35 when the mechanism is in correct operation tending to balance the partial vacuum in the bellows 18 with the spring 19, which acts to move the upper spool to ward the right, and this slight seepage of air at the bushing 35 plus the action of the hinged member of the bellows 18 and the spring 19, creates a very sensitive balancing of the spool 12 and assures during the travel of the perforated sheet 1% a. maintenance of the correct alinement of the perforations therein with the openings in the tracker-bar.

By means of the screw 27 I may adjust the plate 25 and disk or valve member 24 toward or from the end of the spool 13 so as to secure a correct initial adjustment of the music-sheet in accordance with its width and the key in which the music is to be rendered; the adjustment of the plate 25 and disk 24 from a normal position to one equal to a whole space in the tracker-bar 11 and the corresponding adjustment of the line of travel of the sheet 14 result in the music being transposed to a higher or lower key, according to whether I adjust the plate 25 and disk 24 toward the right or the left, said adjustment resulting in the perforations in the sheet 14, instead of traveling over the openings in the tracker-bar primarily intended for them passing over a difierent set of holes, resulting for each whole space on the bar one note of difference in the rendition.

The invention will be understood without special further detailed explanation; its purpose is to preserve the proper alinement of the perforations in the music sheet with the openings in the tracker-bar, and initially the music sheet will have one edge placed against the disk or valve member 2a, and thereafter any tendency of the music sheet to depart from its proper line of travel will result in a change in the relation of said disk or valve member to the port at the lower end of the tube 36. If the music sheet should depart from its true line and start to crowd against the disk or valve member 24: and close the port at the lower end of the tube 36, the bellows 18 will collapse to some extent and cause the arm 17 acting through the spindle 16 to shift the spool 12 slightly toward the left, looking at. Fig. 1, and there by effect the restoration of the proper line of travel in the sheet. When the edge of the sheet ll recedes from the disk or valve member 2-1 an additional quantity of air will enterthe tube 36 and partly neutralize the partial vacuum in the bellows 18, allowing said bellows to open to a sufficient extent to enable the spring 19 to restore the spool 12 to its initial position. If the music sheet should depart from its true line of travel and move in a direction from the disk or valve member 2%, a sufficient quantity of air would then enter the tube 36 and flow into the bellows 18 to counteract the effect of the partial vacuum created through the tube 21, and under this condition the bellows would open beyond its normal open position and ca ry the arm 1? from the spindle 16 that the spring 19 may mess the spool 12 toward the right, looking at Fig. 1. Upon the perforated sheet 1-l again attaining its true line of travel, the edge of said sheet will press the disk or valve member 2a to its normal position and cut off a part of the air supplied to the tube 36, and under such condition the effect of the suction through the pipe 21 would be to partly close the bellows 18 or restore said bellows to its normal condition and effect through the arm 17 the necessary movement toward the left of the spool There is intended to be a light seepage of atmospheric air into the air conduit or tube 36 at all times during the normal operation of the mechanism, this air being sufficient on entering the bellows 18 to prevent the collapsing of the bellows under the action of the suction through the tube 21 without, however, destroying the partial vacuum in the bellows by which the bellows is held in a partially open condition. as shown in Fig. 1, whereby a sensitive balancing of the forces tending to keep the sheet 11 in proper alinement is created and said sheet is maintained with its perforations in proper alinement with the ducts or openings in the tracker-bar.

It will be seen that with a single bellows and a single movable valve member I am enabled to correct the travel of the music sheet on any departure from its true alinement in either direction.

I do not limit my invention to the especial form illustrated of the movable valve member nor to the other details of form and 0011- struction described, nor otherwise than the following claims may require.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In mechanism of the class described, in combination with a perforated music sheet, a tracker-bar, an endwise movable music spool, aspring for moving said spool in one direction, a single pneumatic having an arm to move said spool in the other direction, a wind-up spool, a suction conduit leading from the pneumatic which has a restricted outlet to said suction conduit, an air conduit leading to the pneumatic having a greater crosssectional area than said outlet so as to normally maintain said pneumatic in a substantially balanced state, a plate support at the end of the wind-up spool for the entrance end of said air conduit, which opens through said plate, a movable valve plate supported by and being adjacent to the inner face of said support plate and directly engaged by the edge of the sheet for controlling the entrance of air to said air conduit, and lightspring means intermediate said support plate and valve plate adapted to move the latter from the support plate to a limited extent.

2. In mechanism of the class described, in combination with a perforated music sheet, a tracker-bar, an endwise movable music spool, a spring for moving said spool in one direction, a single pneumatic having an arm to move said spool in the other direction, a Wind-up spool, a suction conduit leading from the pneumatic which has a restricted outlet to said suction conduit, an air conduit leading to the pneumatic having a greater cross-sectional area than said outlet so as to normally maintain said pneumatic in a substantially balanced state, a plate support at the end of the wind-up spool for the entrance end of said air conduit, which opens through said plate, a movable valve plate supported by and being adjacent to the inner face of said support plate and directly engaged by the edge of the sheet for controlling the entrance of air to said air conduit, light spring means intermediate said support plate and valve plate adapted to move the latter from the support plate to a limited extent, and means for adjusting said support plate, said spring means and said valve plate laterally with relation to the sheet and the key in which the music is to be rendered, said means comprising an adjusting screw mounted in fixed bearings, and a nut rigid with said support plate and engaging said screw.

3. In mechanism of the class described, in combination with a perforated music sheet, a tracker-bar, an endwise movable music spool, a spring for moving said spool in one direction, a single pneumatic having an arm to move said spool in the other direction, a wind-up spool, a suction conduit leading from the pneumatic which has a restricted outlet to said suction conduit, an air conduit leading to the pneumatic having a greater cross-sectional area than said outlet so as to normally maintain said pneumatic in a substantially balanced state, a plate support at the end of the wind-up spool for the entrance end of said air conduit, which opens through said plate, a movable valve plate supported by and being adjacent to the inner face of said support plate and directly engaged by the edge of the sheet for controlling the entrance of air to said air conduit, and light spring means intermediate said support plate and valve plate adapted to move the latter from the support plate to a limited extent, said plate support and said valve plate being open in their middle portions and said wind-up spool having a reduced extension at its axial center extending through the openings in said plates.

Signed at New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York this 7th day of April A. D. 1913.

ERNST G. ANDERSON.

Witnesses CnAs. C. GILL, ARTHUR MARION.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). G. 

